el-Kab

Necheb (el-Kab) in hieroglyphics
Necheb Nḫb City of the Nechbet

El-Kab ( Arabic الكاب, DMG al-Kāb , often also Elkab ) is a small village in Upper Egypt , near which are the remains of the ancient city of Necheb ( Roman Eileithyia ). El-Kab is located 15 km north of Edfu and 65 km south of Luxor at the mouth of Wadi Hilal .

meaning

City wall of Necheb with rock tombs

Necheb is one of the oldest cities in Egypt . The sanctuary of Nechbet , who was one of the two crown goddesses of the Egyptian kings, was located here. The city therefore had a close relationship with the Egyptian monarchy from the beginning and the Nechbettempel there was built in almost all epochs of pharaonic history. The ruins of the main temple are badly damaged today, while the city wall in particular is still very well preserved. Other ruins still standing are some rock tombs in the adjacent desert and some smaller temples in the vicinity of the city. The city was closely related to Hierakonpolis on the other side of the Nile and formed a kind of twin city with them.

history

Festival scene in the tomb of Paheri

The place was already populated in the Naqada period. Some large mastabas and rock tombs originate from the Old Kingdom and underline the importance of the city at this time. The oldest surviving remains of the Nechbettempel come from the Middle Kingdom . In the Second Intermediate Period , the site flourished and a number of important rock tombs (e.g. the tomb of Sobeknacht II ; tomb of Paheri ) were built here. The temple was then expanded in the New Kingdom and further temples were built in the wider area of ​​the city, including a small chapel of Amenhotep III. and a rock temple in Ramesside times. The Nechbettempel was greatly expanded under Psammetich I. Significant additions come from Hakor and Nektanebos I. Other temple buildings finally come from Greek times, when the Amenhotep III chapel and the Ramessid rock temple were expanded. In Greco-Roman times the place was called Eileithyiaspolis .

See also

• Rock tombs at el-Kab

literature

• Dieter Arnold : Temples of the Last Pharaohs. Oxford University Press, New York NY et al. 1999, ISBN 0-19-512633-5 , Plan XII.
• Stan Hendrickx: Elkab. In: Kathryn A. Bard (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-18589-0 , pp. 289-93.

Web links

Commons : El-Kab  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Elkab . In: Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon . 6th edition. Volume 5, Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1906, p.  717 .
• Excursions to El-Kab (El-Kāb - الكاب)
• Page about the graves in El-Kab (English)
• Elkab (el-Kab, Nekheb, Eileithyiaspolis) (English)
• El-Kab - Egyptian monuments (English)

Coordinates: 25 ° 7 '12 "  N , 32 ° 47' 53"  E